U.S.DOE's Idaho National Laboratory orders two OriginOil systems

By OriginOil Inc. | July 25, 2012

OriginOil Inc., the developer of an energy industry cleantech process for harvesting algae and cleaning up oil and gas water, announced July 25 that it has received purchase orders for two test-scale units from the U.S. DOE’s Idaho National Labs under its research agreement. One unit is designed to dewater algae continuously and with very low energy, while the other can recover 98 percent of contaminants from frack water in a single pass, as shown in third party testing.

“We are anxious to test OriginOil's new equipment in our algal dewatering research,” said Deborah T. Newby, molecular biologist at INL's Biofuels and Renewable Energy Department. “The system appears to have the potential to significantly reduce the algal dewatering barrier, allowing us to dewater large quantities of algae for use in applications, including the production of formulated feedstocks blended from algal and terrestrial biomass.”

“We also are interested in testing OriginOil's system for processing frac flowback water,” Newby said. “The boom in hydraulic fracturing is urgently forcing new practices in water conservation, and OriginOil's system may be a key part of the answer.”

In an in-kind transaction under its Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with OriginOil, INL will purchase an Algae ApplianceT Model 4, which can continuously concentrate up to four liters of algae production per minute; and a Solids Out of SolutionT (SOS) Model 2K, which is capable of handling first-stage cleanup of up to 2,000 gallons of frac flowback water per day.

OriginOil recently shipped the first production unit of its Algae ApplianceT Model 4 harvester to its joint venture Ennesys in Paris, France, for a test of urban energy generation using algae in the La Défense complex.

In operation since 1949, the Idaho National Laboratory is a science-based, applied engineering national laboratory dedicated to supporting the DOE on energy research and national defense. Its mission is to ensure the nation's energy security with safe, clean, competitive, sustainable energy systems and unique national and homeland security capabilities.